A proud tradition of gay art

Activists gathered outside Parliament last week in support of the gay marriage Bill

DAN KITWOOD/GETTY IMAGES

Tim Teeman

Monday June 10 2013, 1.01am, The Times

The earliest known depiction of a couple making love, dating from around 9000BC, is made from a calcite pebble. Why are the “couple” presumed to be heterosexual, asks R. B. Parkinson, a curator of ancient Egyptian culture at the British Museum, in this slim, engrossing volume of objects and vignettes.

The calcite figures resemble smushed-up milk-bottle sweets. “The sculpture’s ambiguity is a reminder that we should not project our assumptions on to the past,” writes Parkinson, embarking on an illuminating trawl of objects showing how representations of homosexuality have evolved across the millennia.

The British Museum is adept at bespoke historical exercises — most famously in its History of the World in 100 Objects — while this book is published in an emotionally and politically